


dinner

by MidnightsNightmares



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Not a ship fic, bc akechi didnt eat all day and sae wasnt about to have that fuckery, but i needed more content where sae is a parental figure toward akechi, it was important to my health, sae tells akechi to get his shit together and they go get dinner together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-28 21:59:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11427051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightsNightmares/pseuds/MidnightsNightmares
Summary: He felt like a little kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar being scolded by their parent, except for the fact if he’d just had his hand in the cookie jar at some point today then they wouldn’t be here like this.





	dinner

“You ate, right?”

 

Goro is halfway putting his briefcase down, halfway mentally preparing to adjust his gloves after he did since they were sliding up on his palms, and entirely distracted by both proceedings by the simple question that cut through his mind like a hot knife.

 

He looked to Sae, met her stern eyes - distant, yet curious - and felt himself instinctively freeze up under her sharp accusatory glare. He let his briefcase rest on the floor - finally, after letting it hover above the ground for a moment longer than necessary - and then carried on with tugging the leather back down onto his hands. He cleared his throat (stalling), then looked away. Eye contact was the enemy of lies.

 

“Yes, I have.”

 

Sae always asked him that same question every time they met, and every time it was asked, Goro failed to figure out _why_. The more he tried to piece it together in his head, the more the reasons grew further apart from one another. He could conclude it as she was a woman of courtesies and formal manners, simply reaching that extra inch to show off her prim and proper techniques even within a work relationship, but that felt… wrong to him. An assumption that wouldn't stick no matter how much he tried pasting it down.  
  
  
When she asked that question, she had steel within her gaze, unwilling to move as the coldness of her voice rephrased the same thing over and over again.

 

Goro grew used to eventually reassuring her with lies.

 

“When was that?” She pressed, eyes moving back to her laptop, tapping a few things onto it.

 

When she wasn’t satisfied with his answer, that was usually the follow up.

 

“This morning. I heated up something instant since I slightly over slept,” He hadn’t. But he’d said with a jesting tone, hoping it would throw her off of his back and back into her work. Instead, it made her grip the top of her laptop and slowly click it shut, moving her eyes back onto him.

 

“You should eat when it’s available to you. Doesn’t your school serve you lunch? Why didn’t you eat?”

 

He mentally felt the polite mask on his face tighten up the best it could.

 

“I was studying. My teachers weren’t happy I was falling behind because of all the time I’m taking off.”

 

Sae frowned. It was an expression he was entirely too familiar with, be it directed at himself or other things dealing with her work.

 

“That still doesn’t explain even before this Phantom Thief nonsense why you weren’t eating your meals.”

 

_Was it any of your business?_

 

Goro chose not to give an explanation, and if he were being frank, he didn't think she was trying to find one. Sae stood. She looked annoyed, but there was a certain fondness radiating off of her.

 

“We can spare a little time today for some dinner. Conveyor belt sushi only though, because I’m not spending a fortune on dinner.”

 

Goro felt his hands curl briefly in on itself, clenching hard, before releasing. For some reason, the notion entirely disgruntled him. It wasn't so much anger or dissatisfaction as it was… _awkward_. Like a little kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar being scolded by their parent, except for the fact if he’d just had his hand in the cookie jar at some point today then they wouldn’t be here like this.

 

“Well, if you’re paying, I suppose I won’t argue.” Goro said, reaching down to pick up his briefcase again. It made the leather on his hands slide up once more, the feeling rather irritating since he’d just adjusted it, but as Sae tucked her laptop under one arm, straightening her back and gesturing for Goro to follow her, he let his mask crack for only a second - a half second, actually - and let himself feel the state of his body for the first time all day.

 

He was devastatingly _hungry_.

 

As much as an expensive meal sounded great right now, he would happily indulge in whatever Sae was going to buy him.

 

Maybe afterward, as a kick to his own pride, he’d thank her while looking her in the eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> without sae akechi would be dead (shit wait)
> 
> guccimermaid.tumblr.com for more


End file.
